


Falling For You

by Clea2011



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Poetry, Fluff, Holidays, Hot Chocolate, Ice Skating, M/M, Modern Era, Romance, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-03 17:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17288567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011
Summary: Ice skating was definitely not Arthur's thing. The alpine bar next to the rink would have been a far better place to spend an evening. But there was no arguing with Morgana and Leon.  And at least he might meet someone even worse at skating than himself. Possibly.In which Arthur and Merlin are promised food, drink and a warm bar by their respective friends but instead find themselves out on a freezing cold ice rink. And Leon writes love poetry. Badly.





	Falling For You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bunnysworld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/gifts).



> Dear Bunny, I was so pleased when I got you as my recipient. I had a look at your likes and prompts came up with this piece of fluffy silliness - I do hope you like it my friend. Happy holidays and a very happy and healthy new year to you! x
> 
> Thanks very much to my little band of beta elves (Wasp, Cam, LFB and Polo) for all their help and POETRY - you guys are the best! 
> 
> And to the wonderful Merlin Hols mods for running this lovely fest again(and for your patience with my failure to hit deadlines!) - thank you so much!

Leon was in love.

Arthur could tell this by the way his best friend and flatmate was gazing mistily into his morning coffee and sighing heavily.  And that always meant a major headache for Arthur.

Generally speaking, Arthur liked having Leon as a flatmate.  Leon was neat and tidy (actually he tidied up after Arthur too which was just a bonus) and didn’t smoke, drink too much or eat anything from the fridge that was Arthur’s.  It was a massive improvement on Arthur’s university flatmate, Gwaine, who had done all of the above on a regular basis and actually seemed to enjoy Arthur’s dislike of it.  And also tried to hit on Arthur’s sister, which had not gone down very well at all.

But Gwaine was living elsewhere now and there was Leon instead and all was well with the world.

Except at times like this when Leon had fallen for some bloke and was either going to moon around the flat for weeks writing dire poetry and looking pathetically sad, or was going to bring said bloke back for shagging sessions that Arthur would have to hear through the wall and that would make Arthur feel more like a sad singleton than ever.  No, Leon in love was never the best of times.

There was another heavy sigh from the direction of the kitchen table.  Arthur picked up a packet of custard creams and plonked them down in front of Leon.  Leon smiled sadly up at him.

“You’re such a good friend, Arthur.”

Great.  That meant Leon wanted to talk.  Arthur wondered how long a good friend had to sit and listen before they could escape and yet still retain their good friend status.  He poured himself a coffee, guessing that he was going to need it, and sat down at the table.

“What’s happened?” Arthur asked, although he could guess.

“I met this guy,” Leon explained.  And then he sighed.  Again.  Arthur took a couple of custard creams from the pack and prepared himself for a long and angst-ridden tale.

“It was at the gym,” Leon began.  “Honestly, it was like looking at an advertisement for male perfection.”

Arthur held up his hand.  “Tell me this isn’t someone that you’ve only viewed from afar and that might be a totally horrible person?”

“No!  I… was standing behind him at the water fountain and he smiled at me.  And he offered me some tips when I was using the bench-press.  And when he was leaving the gym this little old lady slipped over on the pavement and he helped her up.”

“Does he rescue kittens from trees as well?” Arthur asked, deadpan.

“Probably!”

“And have you written a poem?”

Leon just looked at him.  It was Arthur’s turn to sigh.  He knew his friend far too well.

“Don’t send it to him,” Arthur advised. “Just ask him out for a drink next time you see him.”

Leon started to pull one of the custard creams apart.  He’d stopped looking at Arthur and was concentrating on the biscuit.  That was always a bad sign too.  “Well… I sort of did.”

Arthur hoped that Leon meant the asking out and not the sending of the poem. “And?”

“He sort of said yes.”

“Sort of?”

“He said he’s going ice skating with his friends tomorrow night and I should come along.”

“Can you ice skate?” 

“Yes.”

“Then I fail to see the problem. Go, have a good time.”

Leon was still concentrating on the biscuit.  “He also said I should bring my friends too.”

Ah.  Arthur suddenly saw exactly where this was going.

“Lance and Gwen love skating,” he said quickly.  “They’ll go with you.”

“They’re away for the weekend,” Leon sighed yet again.

Leon had to have other friends who liked to skate.  Arthur tried to think of some.

“Gwen’s brother, Elyan?”

“He’s gone away with them.  They’ve all gone over to Germany to visit some genuine Christmas markets. Elena, Mithian, Owain, Pelinore… everyone you could think of.”

Arthur did vaguely recall an invitation a few months back but it hadn’t seemed particularly appealing at the time.  Right now, though, it sounded perfect.  Why oh why hadn’t he gone with them?

“Well you could go by yourself,” Arthur pointed out desperately.  “Or… Morgana!  She’s definitely still here and she loves skating.  She’ll go with you!”

Leon actually paled at the thought.  “Arthur, please, you’re my best friend!  If I turn up with Morgana she’ll scare them all away.  And if I turn up by myself it’s going to look as if I don’t have any friends!  Please!  I’ll do all the chores for a week!”

“I can’t skate!  I hate skating!”

“Doesn’t matter, you can just stand at the ski bar and watch or something.  Say you’ve hurt your ankle.  I’ll back you up.  Please, Arthur!”

Leon looked so sad and desperate that Arthur couldn’t say no.  But he knew he was going to regret it.

\---

Morgana, of course, heard about the skating night and invited herself along.

Partly this was because most of her friends were on Gwen and Lance’s Christmas market trip and she had nothing better to do.  But mostly it was because she would want to be there to torment Arthur at any attempts that he might possibly make at skating. 

Morgana of course was an amazing skater.  She had even taken part in competitions as a teenager and come home with stupid plastic trophies once or twice, much to their father’s pride.  Although of course everything Morgana did met with their father’s approval as far as Arthur could see.  Everything Arthur did… not so much. 

When he was eight he had gone with Morgana and their father to a skating competition.  It was only a small event at the local rink and was over fairly quickly.  Morgana had won the under-11s and was terribly pleased with herself. Afterwards there had been some sort of promotional taster event with all the children in the audience who weren’t part of the skating club.  Arthur had put on the hired boots and stepped out onto the ice, expecting it all to be as easy as his sister seemed to find it.

What he didn’t expect was to have the flailing boy next to him fall over and accidently give Arthur a massive shove as he fell.  Instead of falling over as well, Arthur got a taste of speed skating.  He somehow stayed upright as he shot across the ice and then cannoned into the group of skaters in the centre of the rink who had continued skating prettily after taking part in the competition.

There was shouting.  There were tears.  There were a lot of very sharp skates all around Arthur (who was by then face down on the ice with a bloody nose) and he seriously thought he was about to lose several fingers.

He didn’t bother with skating again.  The official line that he used was that it was for girls.  And after all, it wasn’t as if Arthur didn’t have plenty of other sports to keep him occupied.  He earned plenty of trophies for athletics and football over the years.  Though somehow Morgana’s always seemed to be at the front of Uther’s cabinet. 

It was George Smart, Arthur’s super-helpful (and a little bit annoying) assistant’s fault that Morgana was joining him and Leon that evening.  Leon had acquired a spare pair of skates from a friend and he dropped them off at the office for Arthur.  Unfortunately Arthur had been in a meeting and by the time he’d got out of that Morgana had called Leon to find out exactly why there were a rather battered pair of ice skates waiting on reception for her brother.  Arthur sometimes hated the fact that he worked with her.

“Arthur, did you forget to tell me about the trip to the ice rink tonight?” she asked far too sweetly.  “Dear Leon says I’m invited.”

Dear Leon definitely owed Arthur several beers.  Dear Leon was so scared of Morgana that he’d probably just agreed to whatever she said.  Dear Leon needed to change his bloody number so that Morgana couldn’t call him and bully him into effectively spying on Arthur for her.

“Oh good, I won’t need to come along then,” Arthur told her, handing her the skates.  “Someone else can have these.  Tell Leon good luck from me!”

“Pick me up on the way,” she instructed him, taking no notice of anything he said as usual. “And I’ll bring these for you just in case you forget them.”  She patted the skates and walked off with them. 

Somehow that attempt to escape had backfired on him.

There were five messages from Leon on his phone, all of them begging him increasingly desperately to still come along and control Morgana.  As if anyone could.

And so Arthur found himself at the temporary ice rink in Albion Park, right at the heart of Camelot city.  It was only open for the Christmas celebrations and would close the first week in January.  But that was weeks away. 

It did at least have a bar, just as Leon had promised.  It was obviously supposed to resemble a ski lodge, and actually wasn’t a bad copy.  The seating area at the front with heaters was particularly appealing.

“I’m not a skater,” Arthur announced as Morgana and Leon changed their footwear.  “I’ll sit at the ski lodge and watch.”

In reply Morgana pushed a bulky carrier bag at him.  “It’s about time you learned.  I’ll teach you. Put these on.”

Arthur glared at her but she just raised an eyebrow until he looked away.  He tried glaring at Leon instead but Leon was very interested in tying up the laces on his skates.  Great.

“Come on, Arthur.  It’ll be fun,” Morgana insisted. 

And for her it probably would be, Arthur knew.  Reluctantly he took the bag and peeked inside.  Sure enough, there were the skates that Leon had dropped off at the office earlier.  Arthur took them out of the bag and looked at them sadly.  Unfortunately Leon had got the correct size so there wasn’t even the excuse that they didn’t fit.

“Hurry up,” Morgana continued.  “This place only does one hour slots, we don’t want to waste the booking.”

An hour.  A whole horrible hour.  Arthur tried to aim what he hoped was a winning smile at his sister.

“You love skating, you don’t want to waste time teaching me.  You go on, I’ll be just fine here.”

A couple of small children, wobbling just a little, skated slowly and inelegantly past them.  Arthur tried not to glare at them for staying upright.

Morgana folded her arms and fixed him with a firm look.  He knew that look.  There was no chance that he was going to be able to get out of this.  And she was bound to have got her phone with her and would take pictures of him sprawled on his arse and would post it all over social media.  The witch.

“Come on, Arthur,” Leon said encouragingly.  Traitor.  “You’ll probably enjoy it once you’ve got the hang of it.”

Probably.  Probably _not,_ Arthur thought.  Reluctantly he put the boots on, taking as long as he could to tie them up.  Morgana eventually got fed up and did the second one for him.

With a heavy sigh, Arthur got to his feet.  Or he tried to.  His feet were now an inch or two off the ground and balancing on two metal blades and there was a good chance he might fall over even before he got to the ice.  He hadn’t remembered this part of it being so uncomfortable.  The boots were a bit too tight as well. 

Morgana, of course, was balancing just fine.  And she stepped out onto the ice as if it were good solid tarmac instead of the slippery, treacherous hell he knew it to be.  Leon also stepped onto it quite easily and stood upright without any effort at all.

A child went by on some sort of giant penguin skate aid.  Arthur looked at it longingly.  Morgana followed his gaze.

“Would you like me to get you one?” she asked innocently.  “They do seals too!”

“No!” Arthur stepped quickly onto the ice without really thinking.

The ice was very slippery and very hard as he discovered when he landed on his bum a moment later.  To add to the indignity of it all, a young boy skated skilfully past him while Morgana and Leon helped him up. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll soon get the hang of it!” the kid called. 

Arthur fumed.  He wanted to shake off Leon and Morgana because it was humiliating, but he really, really didn’t want them to let go of him far more.

“Just try to find your balance,” Morgana advised.  “Bend your knees very slightly, then try moving forward, one foot at a time.”

People were smirking at him, he was sure of it.  It was so embarrassing having Morgana and Leon both holding him up.  He could see a few other adults who weren’t any good at skating but they were all being allowed to stand around the edge holding onto the rail.  They weren’t being forced onto the ice by their bullying harpy of an older sister. 

“You’re doing very well,” Leon told him reassuringly.  Then his expression suddenly brightened as he caught sight of someone across the ice rink.  “Oh look!  There he is!” 

Arthur looked over in the direction where Leon was waving.  Really, he was just glad that Leon hadn’t completely let go of him although he suspected that would happen at any moment.  And then Arthur saw who he was waving to.

It was Gwaine. 

Gwaine Greene, Arthur’s flatmate from university, was grinning happily at them and waving them on over.  Of course it was immediately obvious that he could skate perfectly – he gave them a completely unnecessary little pirouette just to show off.  This was going to be even worse than Arthur had imagined.

Also Leon might be in for a disappointment because Arthur was fairly sure (judging by the way Gwaine had perved over Morgana for all those years at uni) that Gwaine was straight.  But who knew with Gwaine? 

“It’s Gwaine,” Morgana pointed out quite unnecessarily.  “Haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Yes, he’s friends with Percival,” Leon beamed.  “Isn’t that great?  Perce was coming here tonight with Gwaine and some other friend of theirs.”

“Ah, Percival is the one with the muscles,” Morgana was looking at the man behind Gwaine appreciatively.  “Very nice, Leon, very nice indeed!”

Behind Gwaine was a very tall, very muscular giant of a man with a kindly face.  This man, who had to be Percival, was holding up another man who seemed to be trying to compete with Arthur for the title of worst skater.  He was bundled up in a hat and scarf and clinging to Percival who was practically dragging him across the ice. Arthur immediately tried to make more of an effort.  At last there was some chance he might not be the most hopeless of the group.

“Leon, you made it!” Percival called, skating over to them with his passenger just clinging on.  “These are my flatmates, Gwaine and Merlin.”

“We know each other,” Gwaine told him.  “Hi Arthur, Leon, _Morgana_ …”  There was a definite suggestive smirk that accompanied the last name.  Gwaine obviously hadn’t changed a bit.  Worryingly, Morgana seemed to be weighing him up.  But she wouldn’t…  Would she? Surely not?

“Still full of yourself I see,” Morgana scoffed. 

“Still trying desperately to resist me I see,” Gwaine retorted.

“In your dreams!”

“Oh yes!”  If it was possible for Gwaine to look any more pleased with himself, that comment had done the trick.  “You just can’t cope with the fact I’m a better skater than you!”

Arthur stared at him in shock.  He wondered if Gwaine actually had a death wish? 

“Skate off?” Morgana asked.  Well, it was really more of a command. 

Arthur found himself clinging on to Leon as Morgana abandoned him to speed off across the ice with Gwaine in pursuit.  They really were both very good.  Arthur hadn’t even known that Gwaine could skate.

Percival nodded at them admiringly.  “She’s good.” He held out his hand (the one that Merlin wasn’t clinging desperately onto).  “I’m Percival, nice to meet you Arthur.”

Arthur very, very carefully reached out to shake Percival’s hand.  “Likewise.”

“First time on the ice?”

“Obviously,” Arthur grumbled. 

“Morgana’s his sister,” Leon explained.  “I don’t think I’d ever go on the ice if I had to compete with her either!”

“Merlin here’s never skated either,” Percival told them cheerfully.  This made Merlin look up at them properly for the first time.  Until then he’d mostly been watching his own feet as if expecting them to give way under him at any moment.  He had blue eyes and cheekbones to die for, and little wisps of dark hair sticking out from under the hat.  Cute.

Merlin glared up at Percival.  “I skated once! I was hopeless!  I tripped over some horrible spoilt brat whose dad tried to have me arrested for it!  I was eight!  I’m still traumatised!” he complained. 

Arthur narrowed his eyes, wondering… But no, it couldn’t possibly be the same idiot who had knocked him flying all those years ago.  It was just a coincidence.

He considered the way Merlin could barely even stand up.  Yes.  Coincidence.  Probably.

“I just wanted to come here and sit in the bar,” Merlin continued.  Arthur could sympathise with that anyway.  “If we were meant to walk on ice we’d all live at the North Pole!”

“There’s no land at the North Pole,” Leon pointed out, because Leon was a bit of a geek sometimes.  “It’s just a sheet of ice over the sea so you couldn’t actually live there.”

Usually that sort of comment put people off Leon a bit.  But Percival looked impressed.

“We have a pub quiz team down at the Rising Sun on a Tuesday night!  You should come and join us!  Gwaine’s useless, we need someone with a brain!”

Perhaps Merlin had tried to elbow him for that implied insult but it had no effect if he did except to almost make Merlin fall over.  Percival just laughed down at him.

“Merlin’s pretty good of course.  What about you, Arthur?”

“I’m better at pub quizzes than ice skating,” Arthur said with feeling.

Merlin, because he was obviously a little shit despite being cute, grinned at Arthur for that.  “Wouldn’t be hard though, would it, my friend?”

Arthur already felt like an idiot out there surrounded by people who could skate.  He thought it was a bit much to have it pointed out to everyone by someone even worse at it than he was.

“Oh wouldn’t it, _Mer-_ lin?  Aren’t wizards supposed to magically be good at everything?  Can’t you just cast a spell and make yourself brilliant on the ice?  Because you seem to be clinging on to Percival pretty tightly. And who said we were friends?”  He tried to make himself stand a little straighter, forgetting Morgana’s advice about bending his knees, and immediately felt wobbly again.

Merlin was looking at him in what might have been horror, Arthur wasn’t sure.

“My mistake, I could never be friends with someone who was such a prat.  And just for the record I meant it wouldn’t be hard for both of us to be better at anything else than this,” he clarified. 

“Arthur, don’t ruin this,” Leon whispered.

Arthur felt bad for Leon, but he wasn’t going to take crap from some jumped up little twerp no matter how sculpted their cheekbones were.  Still, perhaps it was an opportunity to escape to the bar?  But Merlin beat him to it.

“Sorry Leon, it was good to meet you.  Prince Poshface is right, I’m useless at this.”

“Prince Poshface?” Arthur spluttered indignantly, then realised Percival was trying to hide a smirk and decided not to give them any further ammunition.

“I’m going to wait in the bar and read, I’m only going to slow you two down and get in the way.  I’ll see you in there when you’re done,” Merlin continued.  He let go of Percival with one hand and very carefully attempted to turn around.

For a moment Arthur thought Merlin was going to manage it.  And then Merlin let go of Percival entirely and took a hesitant step forward.

It was like watching a scene from Bambi.  Like Bambi, Merlin had long legs that didn’t seem to be able to co-ordinate on the ice at all.  He started swaying, waving his arms frantically and then going down hard, limbs flailing in all directions.  For a moment he lay there.

“You okay?” Percival asked.

“Fine!” Merlin insisted.  He tried to push himself up but his legs went from under him again.  Arthur tried not to laugh as Merlin struggled to his feet then went straight down again.

“There’s a knack to getting up,” Leon advised helpfully.  “Arthur, just stand there while we help him.”

To Arthur’s horror, Leon let go of him and skated to Merlin’s side.  He and Percival bent down to help Merlin, leaving Arthur standing there in the middle of the ice with no support at all.  Arthur stood perfectly still for a few moments, not daring to move.

He didn’t fall over. 

Once the initial fear subsided, Arthur found he could after all balance fairly easily on the ice as long as he didn’t move.  But there were people all around him and at any moment one of them could collide with him.  The edge of the rink seemed a very long way away.  At least at the moment people were giving them a fairly wide berth because Merlin had gone over yet again despite Leon and Percival’s assistance.  That wouldn’t last long.  And there was always the risk that they would help Merlin back and just forget about Arthur. 

He tried to remember Morgana’s advice as they’d crossed the rink.  Bend his knees a little and just cautious little steps.  He’d tried it while hanging onto them but they’d really gone far too fast for a beginner.  Now, left to his own devices, he took a tentative step. And did not go over.

Percival was explaining to Merlin how to get up off the ice without slipping over.  Arthur took the information in as he had a feeling he was going to need it.  He scooted forward again with his right foot, still very carefully, then again, and again.

He could do it!  He was slow and awkward and wobbly but he was still upright and the edge of the rink (and the bar!) weren’t as far off as they had been.  If the rink had been empty he was sure he could have made it without falling over too many times.  But instead there were people everywhere and as soon as he moved away from the others he found there were people skating all around him.  One knocked his arm and he nearly went over.

“Good, Arthur!  You’re doing well!”

Of course Morgana and Gwaine had to find him.  Arthur immediately fell over onto his backside but Gwaine helped him up.  Arthur was pleased to see that he’d retained enough of what Percival had told Merlin about getting up that he was able to do so without making too much of a spectacle of himself.

“We’ll help you to the edge,” Gwaine offered.  “If you’re going it alone it’s safer there.  I suppose it’ll take both of them to manage Merlin.”

“He’s like Bambi,” Arthur commented, then regretted it immediately when he saw the knowing smirk on Morgana’s face.  “What?”

“He does have a touch of the adorable forest creature about him I suppose,” Morgana agreed. 

That was a strange thing to say considering she had supposedly only just met Merlin.  Though he was starting to have suspicions about Morgana and Gwaine’s relationship.  Their allegedly antagonistic relationship looked to him now to be anything but.

“I meant on the ice, that scene where Bambi’s on the frozen lake,” Arthur clarified.

“Of course you did,” Morgana said patronisingly.  “Come on, we’ll flank you so that people are less likely to go into you.  Head for the side of the rink.  One foot at a time… try to move smoothly…”

Arthur hated to admit it but Morgana and Gwaine were actually quite good instructors.  By the time they reached the edge of the rink he had only fallen over once more and for the last few feet he had actually been a lot less wobbly.

“That was good,” Morgana told him encouragingly.  “Practice your balance here near the side.  We’ll come back in a few minutes and take you on a lap of the rink.”

“It’s okay, I’ll go to the bar,” Arthur told them, but they had already sped off across the ice and didn’t seem to have heard him.  They had, he noticed, left him at a point as far from the exit as possible. He would have to practice his newly acquired skating skills to reach it.  That, he supposed, was their intention.

Arthur was not going to play that game.  He took hold of the bar that ran around the side of the rink and began to make his way towards the exit.  Now that he had some idea of what to do he didn’t really need to hold onto the rail but did it anyway just because he could.  Then he noticed a small girl skating past – she couldn’t have been more than six or seven – and realised she was laughing at him so he immediately let go and started to skate on his own.

Actually, it wasn’t so bad once you got the hang of it.  In fact it was quite good fun… until Leon and Percival decided to bring Bambi over to join him.

“Arthur, you’re doing really well!” Leon exclaimed.  “Look after Merlin for us, will you?  He’ll be better with another beginner.”  They pushed Merlin over to the bar, looking terribly relieved to do so.

“Wait!  No!” Arthur called after them but they’d skated off together even faster than Gwaine and Morgana had.  At least Merlin had the decency to look guilty as he clung to the edge of the rink.

“Sorry.  I asked them to take me to the bar.  I meant the one with the hot chocolate and mulled wine, not this one.” He looked at Arthur.  “Well you’re doing better at this now.  What happened, did Gwaine’s scary girlfriend give you lessons?”

“That’s my sister you’re talking about,” Arthur pointed out, then thought about it.  “Wait, Gwaine’s girlfriend?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow.  “They’ve been dating for years.  I just wish the flat had thicker walls.”

That was really too much information.  Also he was going to kill Morgana for the pretence.  And Gwaine.  Oh, what if it was serious and they got married or something awful?  Years, Merlin had said.  Actually, Arthur would like to be there to see their father’s face if his precious princess was marrying that scruffy oik as Uther had always referred to Gwaine.  Arthur smiled to himself at that thought.

“What’s funny?” Merlin asked.

“Lots of things.  Our friends, mostly. They’ve just abandoned us here.  So, what are the chances of you staying upright if we try to skate over to the exit and head for the proper bar?”

Merlin visibly brightened at that suggestion.  He tugged on the scarf that was covering quite a lot of the lower half of his face and grinned widely at Arthur.  “I only came because they said I could sit in the bar!”

“Me too!  We need new friends!” Arthur laughed.

Merlin nodded happily.  “Definitely!  And I’ll be okay if I hold onto the rail.  They wouldn’t let me do that earlier.  Percival thought he could teach me better if he took me straight out onto the ice.”

Arthur could sympathise.  “Morgana and Leon thought the same with me.”

“But you’re doing okay now.”

Arthur shook his head.  “I’m barely moving.  My sister’s a prize winning skater.  Look at them!” He gestured out at the rink where Morgana and Gwaine were busily showing off their skating skills.  “It’s like a cut price Torvill and Dean!”

That made Merlin laugh.  “Please don’t tell them that, they might try the Bolero!”

“God no!” Arthur shuddered at the thought.  “And where’s Leon gone?”

Leon and Percival, who had been skating around the rink together hand in hand, seemed to have vanished. 

“Best not to know,” Merlin advised.  “Perce’s been going on about the bloke at the gym all week.”

“Leon’s been mooning over him too.”

“Bet he hasn’t written him a hideous poem though!” Merlin laughed, then saw the surprise on Arthur’s face.  “Oh no, tell me you’re joking!  Say he hasn’t!”

“They’re a match made in heaven,” Arthur confirmed.  “I’m leaving the country if they get married, I’m not listening to the bad poetry they’ll both make up to read to each other at the wedding… well, I’m making the assumption here that Percival’s poetry is as awful as Leon’s?”

“Probably worse,” Merlin confirmed.  He was starting to shuffle along the edge of the rink.  The exit and wonderful cosy bar was getting ever closer.  “Percival’s stuff is to die for.  Literally.  I’ve considered ear plugs.”

Arthur was managing to skate, albeit very slowly and carefully, at Merlin’s side.  He was quite proud of himself.  Merlin looked slightly less wobbly as well with the confidence of the solid rail right there to hold.

“Do you think he’ll come over to the flat and recite his horrible poetry to Leon?” Arthur wondered.

“No question.  You and I need to strike up a deal – I’ll warn you whenever Perce writes one, you warn me when Leon writes one.  Deal?”

“Deal.  I think we’ll need to be friends, Merlin,” Arthur decided.  “Obviously we got off to a bad start…”

“I blame our friends for that, forcing us out onto the rink of icy death when we could have been putting our feet up in the alpine bar and drinking warming, comforting things!”

“And eating.  This place does pizza and cheesy chips.”

“I’m hungry already!” Merlin wailed.  “Take me to the hot chocolate and cheesy chips!” He moved a little faster, almost slipped over, and gripped the rail determinedly.  “Whoops!”

Arthur caught Merlin’s arm, surprising himself at how much more confident he was starting to feel on the ice.  It still didn’t mean he ever wanted to get back on it.  “We’re nearly there.  Only a few more feet.”

“If you have feet the size of a giant!” Merlin exclaimed.  “It’s got to be another ten metres!”

“Seven or eight at most!” Arthur scoffed.  “Child’s play to us!”

“Are you blind?”

“I wish I was deaf, then I wouldn’t have to hear the poetry that we’re both going to have to suffer!”

Arthur had noticed that Merlin was steadier when they were talking and concentrating on something other than the skating.  He was particularly steady if Arthur made him giggle.  So that was what Arthur did, all the rest of the way round to the exit.  When they stepped off the ice they practically fell onto the nearest bench, both laughing with relief.

“Never again!” Merlin declared, struggling to untie his skates.  “I don’t care how much fun it’s supposed to be.  I’ve got bruises _everywhere_.  Probably won’t be able to sit down comfortably for a week!”

“Aw, is your little bottom sore?” Arthur teased.

“Yes, it’s not as fat as yours!” Merlin smirked back at him.

For a moment Arthur’s jaw dropped but then he laughed.  “You’ve got a lot of nerve for someone who skates like Bambi!”

“I might skate like Bambi but at least” – Merlin paused for a moment because he obviously couldn’t think of anything, then smiled proudly – “at least I’m not a dollophead!”

“That’s not even a word!  You made it up!”

“Did not.”

“Describe it!”

“In one word?” Merlin asked slyly.

Arthur knew what was coming but he was liking Merlin more and more, particularly when the man smiled at him like that, so allowed himself to walk into the trap.  “Yes.”

“Arthur!”  Apparently that was so funny that Merlin almost fell off the bench laughing.

“Hah hah.  Don’t give up the day job, Merlin.”  Arthur stood up, holding the skates.  His shoes were in the lockers but he would rather walk in his socks than spend another moment in those foot-torture devices.  Merlin evidently felt the same, but he was heading towards the skate hire booth and quickly retrieved a pair of rather badly scuffed trainers.  Then he turned and looked at Arthur quizzically.

“You’ve got your own skates?”

“Um… they aren’t mine,” Arthur explained.  “Leon borrowed them for me from a skater friend of his.”

Merlin peered at them a little more closely.  “Why does it say G Greene inside?  Are they Gwaine’s old ones?  Eww, I don’t think I’d want to wear anything Gwaine’s feet have been anywhere near.  His socks reek!”

Arthur dropped the skates immediately as if they’d burnt him.  Now that Merlin pointed it out there had been a bit of an odd smell to the things.  He looked down at them, horrified.  Gwaine’s socks had been one of the very worst things about rooming with the man at uni.

“You can’t leave them there,” Merlin pointed out. 

“I’m not touching them!”

Merlin sighed, then gingerly picked up the skates.  “Where are your shoes?”

“In a locker.  We’ll put these in there instead.  Leon can deal with them later.” Luckily Arthur was the one with the locker key, so he took out his shoes then with some satisfaction left Morgana’s expensive shoes tucked inside the smelly old skates.  “Now, where’s that bar?”

\---

The mock alpine bar was everything Arthur had hoped it would be.

Merlin was fairly quick once he was on solid ground and wearing proper footgear.  He spotted a couple about to vacate one of the little wooden booths that were scattered about the place and immediately darted over to claim it. 

“Nice work,” Arthur told him as they discarded coats and scarves all over the spare seats in the hope that nobody would join them.  He would have said more but at that point Merlin removed the beanie he’d been wearing and Arthur was faced with a shock of dark unruly curls that didn’t look as if they’d seen a comb in a week.  He must have been staring, because Merlin ran a hand through the mop of hair a little self-consciously.  It made absolutely no difference.  Merlin’s hair was an adorable mess.  And, now that he wasn’t all bundled up in thick coats and scarves, Arthur could see that Merlin was wearing the most ridiculous red sweatshirt underneath.  It had a picture of Pikachu bursting out of a Christmas stocking.  Somehow, though, it suited Merlin.  Arthur found himself hoping that the others took a very, very long time to finish skating.

“Gwaine said we all had to wear Christmas jumpers,” Merlin explained. 

Arthur was just wearing a plain green Henley under his ski jacket.  He did actually feel a little out of place as most people in the bar were dressed in some sort of festive attire.  Leon had been wearing a horrible thing with a picture of a couple of reindeer under some mistletoe on it.  The red noses had been pompoms.  It was hideous.  At least Merlin’s was fairly… well, tasteful wasn’t the word.  Arthur wasn’t quite sure what the word was.  Better than Leon’s, anyway.

“I’m in green,” Arthur pointed out.  “So it’s a close-up of a Christmas tree before it gets decorated.”

“Clotpole!”

“Is that another word you made up, Merlin?  For that, you can get the first round in!”

“Fine by me,” Merlin smirked, and really that should have been a warning.

Arthur watched Merlin head off to the bar until he disappeared in the crowd waiting to be served.  It might take some time, so Arthur checked his phone for messages.  There were a couple of threatening texts from Morgana, but he just sent her back a selfie from the comfort of the booth, along with a message telling her that he was looking forward to seeing their father’s face when he met Morgana’s ‘intended’.  Strangely the threatening messages stopped after that and Arthur supposed he was now safe from ever being made to skate again.

“Laughing at your own jokes again?” Merlin asked.  He was holding a couple of massive mugs of hot chocolate.  Arthur could smell it from the other side of the table.  There was whipped cream and a flake and marshmallows and Maltesers and even a little gingerbread snowman on the top.  “I ordered a sharing plate of nachos.  I’ll eat them all if you don’t like them.”  He put the hot chocolate down on the table, then slid into the booth next to Arthur.  “Also I got you something.”

Merlin was looking far too pleased with himself.  A moment later Arthur realised why when he found himself being decorated with a piece of tinsel and some streamers that Merlin must have taken from the decorations around the bar.  “Now you’re a decorated tree!”

Arthur knew he probably looked ridiculous, but Merlin was gazing so delightedly at his handiwork that it couldn’t be such a bad thing. 

“Thank you Merlin,” Arthur lifted the mug of chocolate, wondering how he was going to drink it through the massive cream swirl mountain on top.  Merlin solved that problem by diving straight into his own mug, resulting in a cream moustache and nose.  Somehow that was just even more adorable.  Arthur reached out and swiped a finger over Merlin’s nose to take the cream, then licked his finger.

“Delicious,” he declared, then tried to drink some of his own chocolate. 

Of course, he managed to get cream on the tip of his own nose.  Merlin shyly copied the cream stealing although Arthur was sure he hadn’t sucked his own finger anywhere near as long and suggestively as Merlin was doing. 

“Hungry?” Arthur asked. “Maybe you should have more of your chocolate?”

Merlin raised his eyebrows innocently, then pulled his finger out with a loud pop.  He took another swig from his mug though, this time deliberately leaving a ridiculous amount of cream on his nose then gazing at Arthur expectantly.  Arthur took one of the Maltesers from his hot chocolate and popped it on the tip of Merlin’s nose.

“Now you really look like Bambi,” Arthur breathed and before he lost his nerve (or the Malteser fell off) Arthur leaned in and reclaimed the Malteser in his mouth, kissing Merlin on the tip of the nose in the process. Then when there was nothing but a pleased hum in response Arthur moved down to capture Merlin’s mouth in a messy kiss. 

Merlin was sweet and warm and tasted like all Arthur’s Christmases had come at once.  The two of them cuddled up closer, kissing and sharing the chocolate.  Only when one of the servers came over with their nachos did Merlin did grab a serviette and attempt to clean them up.

And by the time the others all appeared, much later, Arthur was really pretty glad that he’d agreed to go skating.

Though next year he and his boyfriend would _definitely_ be staying in the bar.

 -----------------

  

**Author's Note:**

> My lovely fic support group have helped create some examples of Leon and Percival's poetry for your added enjoyment. As the reveals are now up I'll credit the culprits :-)
> 
> Odes to Leon:  
> Your hair is so soft and curly,  
> looking at you makes my tummy all wurly. (LFB)
> 
> Such a Wonderful name as Leon,  
> should be written in letters of neon,  
> so then you would see,  
> and maybe call me,  
> for a date that we could drink tea on (Wasp)
> 
> Odes to Percival:  
> I wandered lonely as a cloud around the gym.  
> And then I saw him.  
> The lights went dim.  
> Is he one of the Sims?  
> With his beautiful limbs.  
> Ohhhh Percival. (Clea)
> 
> Oh Percival  
> I wish I had a submersible  
> I would sail you round the seven seas  
> it would be a wheeze  
> if you'd notice meeee. (Clea)
> 
> Oh darling Percy Wercy,  
> I wrote you a little versy,  
> you’re so nice and trim,  
> cos you go to the gym,  
> I’m utterly at your mercy (Wasp)
> 
> Gwaine got an ode as well:  
> There once was a skater called Gwaine  
> Whose skates were really quite profane  
> They smelt so bad  
> They made Merlin sad  
> And of course they drove Arthur insane (Polo)
> 
> And then we all agreed that this is the winner:  
> I watched you while you slept, o Leon  
> The moonlight on your hips  
> Glimpsed glory on your groin  
> Its beams alighted on the brilliance of your buttocks like a butterfly upon a bougainvillea  
> Your curls glistened as gold on a gilt-framed portrait of the gods  
> O, the longing that struck me  
> Your breath blew bubbles on my body, making my eyes boggle and my tummy tingle  
> And that's when it struck me  
> I'd like you to fuck me  
> Again (Cam)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art: Collision Course](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17452562) by [LFB72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LFB72/pseuds/LFB72)




End file.
